Bulgarians rule out IRA money link

A BULGARIAN government investigation has concluded the country has no links with an IRA money laundering operation.

Speaking at a news conference in Sofia yesterday, the head of the country's finance intelligence agency said the two-month probe prompted by the discovery of £2.5 million (€3.6m) after raids in Ireland has found no evidence of Bulgarian involvement in laundering cash for the IRA.

The Criminal Assets Bureau and special branch gardaí raided a number of properties in mid-February, including the home of Ted Cunningham in Farran, Cork, where they seized £2.3m in a compost bin.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern this week said forensic tests confirmed money seized during the raids were from the €37.9m Northern Bank robbery, which is believed to have been an IRA job.

It was thought the IRA was trying to use Bulgaria's property market as a conduit for laundering the Northern Bank cash.

Mr Cunningham had travelled to Bulgaria to seek investment opportunities for a company called Chesterton Finance in February.

He had travelled with fellow company director and former trade union boss Phil Flynn. Both met with a senior government finance official and a banker.

Their trip led to an investigation by the Bulgarian Financial Intelligence Agency which examined accounts set up in Bulgaria.

This investigation has concluded that there was no link with IRA money laundering and Bulgaria.

Financial Intelligence Agency director Vasil Kirov yesterday said most parts of the investigation were complete, but a file would remain open. A report will be sent to gardaí in Dublin.

Mr Kirov added that transactions in and out of 10 accounts were checked.

None was found to have been linked to criminal activities, the inquiry found.

A dossier on six Irish people who travelled to Bulgaria in connection with investments was compiled by the Mr Kirov's agency. Details concerned the movements of Mr Cunningham, Mr Flynn and banker Denis O'Connell among others.

Bank checks revealed minor deposits of €1,000 each in two accounts and another sum of €58,000 used to establish a firm in Plovdiv, interior minister Georgi Petkanov confirmed.

Mr Flynn has categorically denied meetings he held in Bulgaria were in any way connected to crime.

Mr Kirov said his four-man investigation disproved suspicions of his country's links to the IRA.